The Little Red House with
No Doors
and No Windows and a
Star Inside!
by Caroline Sherwin Bailey
There was once upon a time a
little boy who was tired of all his toys and tired of all his play.
"What shall I do?" he asked his mother. And his mother, who always
knew beautiful things for little boys to do, said: "You shall go on
a journey and find a little red house with no doors and no windows
and a star inside."
This really made the little boy wonder. Usually his mother had good
ideas, but he thought that this one was very strange. "Which way
shall I go?" he asked his mother. "I don't know where to find a
little red house with no doors and no windows."
"Go down the lane past the farmer's house and over the hill," said
his mother, "and then hurry back as soon as you can and tell me all
about your journey."
So the little boy put on his cap and his jacket and started out. He
had not gone very far down the lane when he came to a merry little
girl dancing along in the sunshine. Her cheeks were like pink
blossom petals and she was singing like a robin.
"Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and
no windows and a star inside?" asked the little boy.
The little girl laughed. "Ask my father, the farmer," she said.
"Perhaps he knows."
So the little boy went on until he came to the great brown barn
where the farmer kept barrels of fat potatoes and baskets of yellow
squashes and golden pumpkins. The farmer himself stood in the
doorway looking out over the green pastures and yellow grain fields.
"Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and
no windows and a star inside?" asked the little boy of the farmer.
The farmer laughed too. "I've lived a great many years and I never
saw one," he chuckled, "but ask Granny who lives at the foot of the
hill...She knows how to make molasses, taffy and popcorn balls...and
red mittens! Perhaps she can direct you."
So the little boy went on farther still, until he came to the Granny
sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and marigolds. She was as
wrinkled as a walnut and as smiling as the sunshine. Please dear
Granny, said the little boy, "Where shall I find a little red house
with no doors and no windows and a star inside?"
The granny was knitting a red mitten and when she heard the little
boy's question, she laughed so cheerily that the wool ball rolled
out of her lap and down to the little pebbly path.
"I should like to find that little house myself," she chuckled. It
would be warm when the frosty night comes and the starlight would be
much prettier than a candle. But ask the wind who blows about so
much and listens at all the chimneys. Perhaps the wind can direct
you."
So the little boy took off his cap politely to the Granny and went
on up the hill rather sorrowfully. He wondered if his mother, who
usually knew almost everything, had perhaps made a mistake.
The wind was coming down the hill as the little boy climbed up. As
they met, the wind turned about and went along, singing beside the
little boy. It whistled in his ear, and pushed him and dropped a
pretty leaf into his hands.
"I wonder," thought the little boy, after they had gone along
together for awhile, "if the wind could help me find a little red
house with no doors, and no windows and a star inside."
The wind cannot speak in our words, but it went singing ahead of the
little boy until it came to an orchard. There it climbed up in the
apple tree and shook the branches. When the little boy caught up,
there, at this feet, lay a great rosy apple.
The little boy picked up the apple. It was as much as his two hands
could hold. It was as red as the sun had been able to paint it, and
the thick brown stem stood up as straight as a chimney, and it had
no doors and no windows. Was there a star inside?
The little boy called to the wind, "Thank you," and the wind
whistled back, "You're welcome."
Then the little boy gave the apple to his mother. His mother took a
knife and cut the apple through the center. Oh, how wonderful! There
inside the apple, lay a star holding brown seeds.
"It is too wonderful to eat without looking at the star, isn't it?"
the little boy said to his mother.
"Yes, indeed," answered his mother.
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